1945 12.27, representatives of 22 countries attending the Bretton Woods Conference signed the Bretton Woods Agreement and formally established the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. These two institutions have become permanent specialized agencies of the United Nations since15 October. China is the founding country of these two institutions, and People's Republic of China (PRC) won the seats of these two institutions in 1980. Since then, a new period in the development history of the international monetary system has begun.

Bretton Woods System

The Bretton Woods system is based on gold, and the US dollar is the main international reserve currency. The dollar is directly linked to gold, the currencies of all countries are linked to the dollar, and gold can be exchanged with the United States at the official price of $35 per ounce.

The depreciation of the US dollar in March 1973 once again triggered a wave of selling US dollars and snapping up gold in Europe. The foreign exchange markets in western Europe and Japan had to be closed for 17 days. After consultation, an agreement was finally reached, and western countries abandoned the fixed exchange rate system and implemented the floating exchange rate system. At this point, the Bretton Woods monetary system completely collapsed and the reform process of non-monetization of gold began.